Summer Fun

We have had a busy summer. It has been so much fun spending a lot of family time together. Here is a quick re-cap of some of the fun things we've been doing:

Going to the Open House for the Oquirrh Temple

I went once with my brother, sis-in-law, nephew, and my mom
Then I got to go AGAIN with Jon's brother, sis-in-law, and 2 aunts.

We were volunteers for the Freedom Festival Parade

Hiking to Timpanogos Caves

Inside Timpanogos Caves

Lots of Fishing!

Jon surprised me and bought me a fishing license so I can do more than just watch!

Swim lessons!

Alex and Caleb both did 2 sessions of swim lessons this summer.
Leah starts her swim lessons on Monday.
She's really excited.

Swimming at the Veteran's Pool

Camping at the Cabin and
Building a Playhouse There.

The roof is now on and the tin siding has been put up on 2 sides of the playhouse
One more weekend of work will finish it off.

Jon bought a boat for $200!
It's taken a LOT more than that to try to get the thing running.
It will be ready for water SOON!

Springville Art City Days Carnival
Caleb talked me into going on the zipper with him.
I hadn't been on that ride for more than 15 years!
I think I'm good for another 15!
(my cell phone also flew right out of my pocket during the ride...oops)

Caleb, Alex, and Leah are on the far left of this picture.
Their faces were so fun to watch,
Although it was funner to watch the people NOT paying attention
walk right through a pile of PUKE on the ground in front of this ride.
Oh, the joys of carnivals!

FHE Hike

We had planned to hike to the Y last week for FHE, but the weather was rainy and cold. So, we decided to hike to the Y today (even though the weather was threatening to rain). It made for a perfect hike. It was breezy and cool while we hiked. The kids did great. We're trying to get them conditioned to hike to the Timpanogos Caves this summer, so we'll be hiking to the Y a couple more times in the next few weeks.

This is a picture at the bottom of the Y. We actually kept hiking until we reached the top of the Y. It took us an hour to hike to the top, and only 20 minutes to hike back down to our van.

The "Y"

Go Cougars!

Growing Up

Our chickens aren't babies anymore. Our kids call them "toddlers" because they aren't full grown yet either. Leah isn't afraid of them anymore. In fact she LOVES to pick them up and play with them. She kind of reminds us of Elmyra from Tiny Toon Adventures. She'll love those chickens to death if we're not careful with her.

After Leah has played with the chickens she'll wash her hands,
then continue to sniff them and wash them until she can't smell chickens anymore.
She'll shove her fingers into my nose and ask,
"Mom, do you smell chicken poo?"
YUCK

Jon did a great job on the chicken coop. It's way to posh for chickens. Crazy how our kids have wanted a playhouse for years, but the chickens get one first! LOL

Leah Rides a Two-Wheeler Bike!

We took the training wheels off of Leah's little bike when I bought her a big bike at a yard sale a couple of weeks ago. We put training wheels on the big bike so she could start riding it. Well, she self-taught herself how to ride on 2-wheels by using her little bike without the training wheels. Last night she was getting really good at riding it, so I took the training wheels off her big bike today and watched her go. One push is all she needed and she took off on 2 wheels and didn't look back!

Just like with the boys I had bribed Leah with something special if she learned to ride a two-wheeler. She decided to get 2 babies and a basket for her bike.
Leah riding on her little bike


Leah on her big bike

Fathers and Sons

Our stake fathers and sons campout was this weekend. What a bad weekend for camping! Jon was planning to take the boys, so Leah and I went to my moms house for a girls night out. When the weather started to shift and the news said it was going to rain he decided just to take the boys fishing in Provo instead. They all caught a fish. Alex caught the most! They had a good time and got to eat fish for lunch today.

Girl's Day Out

I have come to realize that there is only a month of school left! That is so crazy. So, that means there's only one more month of Leah/mommy alone time! How sad! My baby is growing up and will be going to kindergarten next year! :( I keep telling her not to get bigger, but she's not listening to me!

I just wanted to document our time together. She's a really fun workout pal. She's gone for walks in the morning with me since she was a baby. These are some pictures from our walk last week. She rides her bike...I walk.
She gets to choose a park to play on during our walk. There are 3 parks that we pass on the Provo River Trail that she picks from. Her recent method of choosing is whether or not the park has monkey bars or not. Sometimes it's based on what color the slides and toys are.



I love my little girl! I'm glad kindergarten is only half day so I can still have my little buddy for a little while longer.

Chicken Training

The boys love their chickens! Leah is still warming up to them. The boys like to make a chicken training in our backyard to teach the chicks to fly. They put them on the edge of their box, or on top of their water bottle and call for them. Alex likes to run around the yard with one on his hand to watch it flap its wings.

Buckwheat is the big yellow/red one right in front. Stripey is the one flying.